1 Peter 3:1-12

B. SOCIAL DUTIES. 1 Peter 2:13 to 1 Peter 3:12

13  This warfare against heathen principles of living does not mean the subversion of the necessary bonds of society. Rather it deepens and intensifies them. God has instituted various forms of authority among men, and to those you must submit yourselves for His sake.

(a) 14  TO CIVIL RULERS, whether it be to the king as supreme ruler in the Empire or to subordinate magistrates, as officers sent (by God) through the agency of the king to execute vengeance upon evil-doers but to commend well-doers. 15  For this is one of the ways of God’s own working. His will is that by well-doing men should silence the purblind calumnies of the senseless sort of men who attack them. 16  In submitting to such institutions you will not be reverting to the old yoke of slavery from which you were ransomed. You will only be obeying “the law of liberty.” Instead of acting like men who misuse their liberty as a cloak of their malice, you will be acting as the bond-servants of God (“whose service is perfect freedom”). 17  It is your duty in general to honour all men, in particular to love your brethren in Christ, to fear God, to honour the king.

18  The same principle applies to all your social relationships.

(b) HOUSEHOLD SLAVES (despite the fact that in Christ there is neither bond nor free) must, with a full sense of the fear of God, submit themselves to their masters, and that not only to those who are good and considerate but also to those who are unfair or capricious. 19  For if a man recognizes his service as part of God’s discipline for him, and for that reason submits to the hardships of unjust treatment, God will approve (or thank him for) his conduct. 20  I say “unjust treatment” for there is nothing heroic in submitting to be buffeted for actual faults. But if you have to suffer in spite of doing good work and bear it patiently, such conduct does find favour with God (or even His “Well done”), 21  because you will be responding to God’s call which was to follow Christ. He also suffered on your behalf, and in all His sufferings He left you an outline sketch to fill in by following in the track of His footsteps. 22  He was the ideal sufferer described in Isaiah 53, “He did no sin,” “No deceit was found in His mouth.” 23  When I saw Him being reviled He was not reviling in reply. When He was being ill-treated He was not threatening vengeance. No, He was all through committing His cause to God whose verdict is always just (however unjust man’s sentence may be). In His own Person “He bore our sins.” 24  When His Body was offered up upon the Cross our sins “laid upon Him” were included in it. Sins therefore ought to find no place in us. Christ died as our sin-bearer in order that we might regard ourselves as dead to sin and break off all connexion with sins and live (as risen with Him) to righteousness. By His precious scars you Gentiles were healed. For the prophet’s words are true of you. 25  You were straying like lost sheep, but now in your conversion you returned to the good Shepherd, who was all along watching over your souls though you knew it not.

1 Peter 3:1-12. SOCIAL RELATIONS CONTINUED

1  The same principle of submission to authority as part of God’s will applies also to WIVES (in spite of the fact that in Christ there is neither male nor female). Wives should submit to their husbands; deeds speak louder than words. 2  To be spectators of the effects of the fear of God as seen in the pure lives of their wives may silently win husbands, who are persistently deaf to the spoken message of the Gospel. 3  The wife’s truest adornment should be not outward but within, 4  the inner character of a heart clad in the imperishable ornament of a spirit which is placid in itself and gentle towards others. That is a jewel of great price in God’s estimation.

5  Such was the self-adornment practised by the wives of whom we read in the ancient story of the chosen people. Their hopes were set on God and consequently they submitted to their husbands. 6  Take for example the case of Sarah, whose daughters you Gentile women became when you were admitted to the new “Israel of God.” She obeyed Abraham and called him “Master.” Such wives did good work, and were never scared or “flustered” into deserting the path of duty. 7  This involves a corresponding duty on the part of HUSBANDS. You must appreciate the meaning and dignity of human life and marriage. You share an earthly home with your wives; you also share the same spiritual inheritance, God’s free gift of life in the highest sense of the word. Your wife, like yourself, is “a chosen vessel” of God, but she is cast in a more fragile mould and therefore needs all the gentler handling and the more honour. Any lower, more selfish, more sensual view of marriage will be a hindrance to your prayers.

8  To sum up mutual duties in general. All of you must strive to be of one mind. Feel for one another, love one another as brothers in Christ, be tender-hearted, be humble-minded. 9  Do not requite evil with evil or abuse with abuse. Rather bless your revilers, for the inheritance of blessing is the end and object of your calling as Christians. 10  As the Psalmist says, A man who has made up his mind to love life and see good days must check his tongue from what is evil and his lips from uttering anything deceitful. 11  He must turn aside from evil and do good. He must seek peace and follow it up. 12  So, and so only, can he attain true life, true happiness, for the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and His ears are open to their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.

1 Peter 3:1-6. The duty of Christian wives